FOREIGN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  SERIES. 

No.  VIII. 


The  Business  of  Missions.* 

BY  ROBERT  T.  MATHEWS. 

“  Look  ye  out,  therefore,  brethren,  from  among 
YOU  seven  men  of  good  report,  full  of  the  Spirit  and 
wisdom,  whom  we  maj  appoint  over  this  business.” 
—  Acts  vii :  3. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  every-day  sense  in 
the  Bible.  While  it  contains  the  revelation  of 
the  deep  things  of  God,  it  is  also  a  storehouse 
of  homely  counsels  and  worldly-wise  methods. 
Its  Divine  mysteries  easily  flow  into  material 
channels,  and  become  part  and  parcel  of  a 
visible  administration.  The  treasure  of  God 
is  in  earthen  vessels ;  and  the  earthen  vessels, 
so  far  from  hiding  or  harming  the  treasure, 
have  their  purpose  rather  in  demonstrating 
that  the  exceeding  greatness  of  the  power  is 
of  God,  and  not  from  men.  The  secret  of  it 
all,  the  reason  that  the  mystery  of  God  so 
straightly  has  its  practical  method,  the  reason 
that  the  eternal  purpose  of  God  becomes  a 
power  of  day  or  age,  the  reason  that  the  in¬ 
finite  truth  of  God  sometimes  seems  so  point¬ 
edly  timely  and  sensible,  is  that  man  is  the 
medium  of  its  expression  and  application. 

So  also  is  the  text  before  us.  The  Apostles 

*  An  Address  before  the  Foreign  Christian  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society,  Springfield,  Ills.,  October  22,  1896. 

1 


were  confronted  with  a  problem  of  adminis¬ 
tration.  Inspired  to  preach  the  Gospel  of 
grace,  and  now  burdened  with  the  duty  of 
managing  the  abundant  charities  offered  for 
the  poor,  what  will  they  do  ?  It  was  not  fit 
that  they  should  forsake  the'word  of  God,  and 
serve  tables.  Theirs  must  be  the  duty  of 
prayer  and  the  ministry  of  the  Word.  What 
will  they  do?  Will  they  appoint  a  committee 
to  outline  an  organization,  draft  a  constitution 
and  by-laws,  duly  consider  names  and  terms, 
tabulate  a  plan  of  work,  and  report  at  the 
next  Pentecost  ?  A  year  from  that  time, 
would  the  Association  for  the  Administration 
of  Alms  among  the  Poor — the  A.  A.  A.  P. — 
be  born,  ready  to  receive  the  offerings  of  the 
brethren  ?  Or,  would  a  mass-meeting  be 
called,  plans  discussed,  resolutions  voted  down, 
and  adjournment  take  place  without  either 
doxology  or  benediction?  Not  so.  “Look 
ye  out  therefore,  brethren,  from  among  you 
seven  7nen.^'’  Not  machinery  first,  but  men. 
Not  methods  first,  but  men.  “Seven  men  of 
good  report,  full  of  the  Spirit  and  of  wisdom.” 
Men  reputable,  spiritual,  wise — this  was  the 
very  first  matter  to  be  attended  to.  The 
Apostles  called  for  men  with  three  supreme 
qualifications — men  esteemed  among  their  fel¬ 
low-men,  men  after  God’s  own  heart,  men 
with  executive  ability.  The  right  kind  of  men 
first.  Then  what?  “  Whom  we  may  appoint 
over  this  business.’’^  B-u-s,  biz,  i,  bizi,  n-e-ss, 

2 


business.  The  great  Apostolic  precedent  of 
business  in  Christianity !  It  was  well  named 
“this  business.”  The  money  was  already  in 
the  treasury,  _and  there  had  gone  out  a  clamor 
against  some  mismanagement — one  class  neg¬ 
lected  in  the  distribution  of  the  alms.  It  was 
a  business,  if  ever  there  was  one,  that  would 
test  the  reputation,  the  piety,  the  wisdom  of 
the  men  appointed  to  transact  it. 

The  right  kind  of  men  in  charge  of  the 
Lord’s  business — such  is  the  principle  of  the 
Apostolic  precedent  under  study.  It  has  al¬ 
ways  been  so  as  regards  any  ministry  that  God 
has  richly  blessed.  The  history  of  the  Church 
shines  with  the  lesson  a  thousand  times.  Study 
the  origin  of  Bible  societies,  tract  societies, 
missionary  societies,  one  after  another  of  pio¬ 
neer  organizations  of  benevolence,  and  each 
has  its  story  of  a  man  or  a  woman  who,  in  a 
vision,  saw  some  need,  heard  some  cry  of  dis¬ 
tress  in  the  night,  and  straightway  sought  to 
go  forth  into  a  new  Macedonia,  concluding 
that  God  had  called  him  or  her  into  a  fresh 
service  of  the  Gospel. 

Mark  three  notable  examples.  Thomas 
Charles  sees  the  famine  of  the  Bible  in  his 
native  land.  He  finds  his  friend  Tarn,  and 
speaks  of  the  destitution.  Tarn  brings  him 
before  a  gathering  of  preachers,  and  begs  for 
more  Bibles  in  Wales.  Joseph  Hughes  hears 
the  cry,  and  replies :  “  If  for  Wales,  why  not  for 
England,  and  for  the  world  ?  So  was  dropped 

3 


the  fertile  seed  of  one  of  the  world-wide  Bible 
societies.  A  woman  lies  upon  an  invalid’s 
bed,  and,  in  her  weakness  and  suffering,  won¬ 
ders  what  she  can  do  for  her  Lord.  She  be¬ 
gins  to  send  flowers  to  the  prisoner  in  his  cell. 
What  poor  felon,  as  he  sees  the  summer  rose 
brought  by  the  children’s  hands,  with  the 
child]  ens  smiles,  does  not  see  the  red-blood 
love  of  Jennie  Casseday  blushing  in  every 
leaf?  A  preacher  carries  his  young  people  on 
his  heart,  in  a  burden  of  prayer  for  their  good. 
He  prays,  and  waits,  and  watches;  and  God 
opens  the  door  of  endeavor  for  millions  of 
young  disciples  in  their  faith  and  zeal. 

This  is  God’s  lesson.  This  is  the  Apostolic 
way.  Given  the  need,  given  the  faith,  given 
the  prayer,  then  God  sends  supplies,  then 
comes  the  call  for  honorable,  pious,  practical 
men ;  for  charity  or  missions  then  become  a 
tremendous  business.  There  must  be  the  use 
of  machinery  and  the  skill  of  management, 
d  he  Lord  is  dispensing  bread  to  hungry  thou¬ 
sands.  Let  the  people  sit  down  on  the  green 
grass.  Let  them  arrange  themselves  in  ranks, 
by  hundreds,  and  by  fifties.  Let  the  Lord’s 
servants  receive  from  His  gracious  hands  the 
multiplying  loaves,  and  distribute  them  one 
after  another  to  the  multitudes.  Then,  when 
all  have  eaten,  and  are  filled,  let  the  broken 
pieces  be  gathered  up  in  baskets,  that  nothing 
be  lost.  Order,  comfort,  abundance,  dispatch, 
economy — how  these  shine  in  the  business  of 

4 


the  miracle,  according  to  the  Gospel  story! 
The  Lord  giving;  His  agents  receiving,  man¬ 
aging,  distributing ! 

Let  us  study  the  lesson  for  ourselves  to-day, 
as  regards  the  world- wide  mission  of  the  Gospel. 
The  world-wide  mission  of  the  Gospel  is  the 
greatest  business  of  the  world.  It  is  the  grace 
of  God  that  brings  salvation  to  all  men ;  and  it 
is  the  business  of  the  Church  to  go  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  whole 
creation.  The  Gospel  as  a  grace  and  as  a 
business  must  have  its  healthy  unity  in  a  re¬ 
spectable,  prayerful,  efficient  administration. 

The  power  of  such  success,  instrumentally, 
lies  in  men  and  women  trusted  by  their  fellows, 
filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  wise  in  their 
ways  and  methods.  With  this  ideal  of  the 
business  of  missions,  let  us  study  some  of  its 
principles  and  applications. 

I.  In  this  light  we  should  save  ourselves 
from  all  controversy  or  anxiety  over  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  the  organization  of  missions.  It  is  alto¬ 
gether  our  own  fault  that  we  have  had  a  life¬ 
time  war  of  words  over  this  matter.  It  has  not 
enough  been  our  first  concern  in  prayer,  if  need 
be  with  fasting,  to  know  the  grace  of  God  which 
might  be  given  in  the  churches  of  America,  as 
it  was  in  those  primitive  churches  of  Macedonia, 
when  they,  in  affliction  and  poverty,  gave  ac¬ 
cording  to  their  power,  and  beyond  their 
power,  so  that  the  riches  of  their  liberality  as¬ 
tonished  even  an  Apostle.  There  has  doubt- 

5 


less  resulted  some  good  from  this  long  discus¬ 
sion  on  plans  and  means  of  work.  Now  that 
the  smoke  of  debate  has  cleared  away,  we  cau 
see  plainly  forever  the  ancient  landmarks  of 
liberty  in  work  and  worship.  But  it  becomes 
us  now  all  the  more,  in  the  freedom  of  our 
privileges,  not  to  make  organization  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  of  missions,  and  to  neglect  the 
weightier  matters — faith,  and  prayer,  and  ho[)e. 
For  this  is  the  secret  of  organization  every¬ 
where — the  life  within;  rising,  expanding,  un¬ 
folding  life;  the  larger  and  fuller  the  life,  the 
larger  and  finer  the  organism  ;  the  su  j)er-abound- 
ing  life  requiring  its  reservoirs  and  conduits, 
its  centers  of  collection  and  its  channels  of  dis¬ 
tribution.  When  the  Lord  of  hosts  opens  the 
windows  of  heaven,  then  is  the  time  to  make  a 
business  of  His  blessing,  if  ever  thus  we  can 
have  room  enough  to  receive  it. 

With  a  growing  life  of  faith  and  prayer,  we 
need  not  be  surprised  that  the  organization  of 
our  missionary  work  will  grow  “  from  more  to 
more.”  It  is  the  last  thing  under  the  sun  for 
us  Disciples  to  fear  that  we  shall  drift  into  an 
ecclesiastical  hierarchy.  No  ;  our  tendency  is 
to  be  guarded  against  another  way.  We  are 
more  likely  to  run  into  a  false  individualism,  in 
which  many  a  preacher  becomes,  like  Ephraim, 
a  wild  ass  alone  to  himself.”  We  need,  in 
our  very  plea  for  the  organic  union  of  Christen¬ 
dom,  to  drink  more  deeply  of  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit,  especially  in  order  that,  in  the  business 

6 


:  of  world-wide  missions,  we  may  demonstrate 

how  strong  we  stand  together  in  a  united,  uni¬ 
versal  propagation  of  the  (lospel. 

We  do  a  great  deal,  as  it  is.  We  do  a  great 
deal  because  of  the  very  sini]  licity  and  vitality 
of  the  Gospel  that  we  preach.  It  is  an  impres¬ 
sive  fact  that  every  year,  in  this  nation,  more 
than  50,000  are  baptized  according  to  the  spe¬ 
cific,  historic  proclamation  of  the  Day  of  Pen¬ 
tecost.  It  calls  for  gratitude  that  still  disciples 
go  every-where  preaching  the  Word,  and  asso¬ 
ciating  themselves  as  churches,  without  waiting 
for  the  agencies  of  missionary  boards.  It  chal¬ 
lenges  our  admiration  that  hundreds  of  weak 
congregations  in  the  South,  the  West,  the 
North,  the  East,  regularly  partake  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  the  Lord,  in  the  absence  of  the 
stated  preaching  of  the  Word.  We  do  all  this 
■ — we  do  it  by  weak  individual  efforts,  we  do  it 
in  feeble,  scattered  congregations.  It  shows 
vitality  ;  it  evinces  growth.  But,  with  an  un¬ 
bound  Gospel, .with  the  simplest  tests  of  fellow¬ 
ship,  what  ought  we  not  to  do,  what  might  we 
not  expect,  what  stupendous  growth  would 
there  not  be,  if  regularly  in  the  closet,  in  the 
congregation,  we  prayed  to  be  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  be  endued  with  the  grace  of 
giving,  and  then  united  ourselves  in  the  busi¬ 
ness  of  universal  missions. 

With  this  unity  of  the  Spirit,  in  faith  and 
]  prayer,  organization  would  have  to  come. 
Missionary  work  would  have  to  be  a  business, 

7 


When  Ciod  gives  His  grace  in  the  churches, 
then  is  the  time  for  smoothness  of  machinery  ; 
then  is  the  demand  for  expeditious  methods; 
then  is  the  call  for  honesty,  economy,  wisdom, 
in  the  business  of  missions.  There  is  a  stage 
in  the  grace  of  God  when  it  becomes  very 
business-like  and  practical  in  its  ministrations 
to  humanity,  especially  as  to  good  works  and 
almsdeeds.  Organization  may  just  then  be 
the  critical  need  to  house  the  gifts  of  God  in 
abundance,  to  hold  them  in  safety,  to  appro¬ 
priate  them  in  equity.  Organization  becomes 
the  standpipe  whither  the  mighty  enginery  of 
prayer  pumps  the  blessings  of  God,  whence 
they  flow  in  orderly  distribution  refreshingly 
to  thirsty  souls.  Organization  means  cer¬ 
tainty,  regularity,  continuity,  efficiency,  equal¬ 
ity,  whether  in  the  mercy  of  hospitals  or  in 
the  glory  of  missions.  Ever  let  our  first  con¬ 
cern  be  the  grace  of  God  in  the  heart,  and  or- 
ganization  there  will  be,  organization  there 
must  be,  to  make  a  business  of  this  blessing. 

2.  The  business  of  missions  lays  a  special 
obligation  on  the  pulpil.  It  is  also  here  first 
the  lesson  of  the  grace  of  God  is  given  in  the 
congregation.  The  pulpit  must  know  this 
grace  in  an  acceptable  time,  and  make  a  busi¬ 
ness  of  it.  Do  you  say  that  the  ])ulpit  is  both 
burdened  and  distracted  by  these  incessant 
missionary  calls?  It  may  be  distracted  by 
them ;  but  its  heart  can  not  be  too  heavily 
burdened  by  them.  The  world-wide  mission 

a 


of  the  Gospel  ought  to  be  a  regular  business 
of  the  pulpit,  neither  neglected  nor  slighted. 

Let  the  preacher’s  conscience  test  him  in  a 
severe  self-examination  over  the  discharge  of 
this  duty.  When  did  you  last  preach  on  a 
missionary  theme?  When  did  you  first  preach 
on  it?  Did  you  ever  preach  on  it?  Do  you 
wait  for  some  one  else  to  stir  you  up  on  the 
matter?  Do  Priscilla  and  Aquila  have  to  take 
you  unto  them,  and  expound  unto  you  the 
business  of  missions  more  carefully  ?  Do 
even  Euodias  and  Syntyche  have  to  urge  you 
to  take  up  a  collection  ?  Do  you  commit  the 
sin  of  David  in  numbering  your  little  Israel — 
a  thousand  members ! — and  boast  of  the  num¬ 
ber,  while  the  Lord  sees  missionary  fruitage  on 
hardly  one  bough  of  the  leafy  tree  ? 

Why,  the  preacher  ought  to  be  first  and  fore¬ 
most  of  the  men  of  God  in  the  grace  and  busi¬ 
ness  of  missions.  By  a  profound  study  of  the 
Word,  in  fervent  prayer,  in  a  skillful  homiletics, 
the  world-wide  mission  of  the  Gospel  may  be¬ 
come  the  dominant,  the  fascinating,  the  en¬ 
trancing  note  of  the  pulpit.  Listen!  “I  ex¬ 
hort,  therefore,  first  of  all,  that  supplications, 
prayers,  intercessions,  thanksgivings,  be  made 
for  all  men  ” — the  universal  prayer  !  Who  of 
us  forgets  it,  or  ignores  it  in  the  pulpit?  That 
prayer  in  the  heart  of  the  preacher,  leading 
the  heart  of  the  congregation,  may  so  bring 
down  the  grace  of  God  upon  all,  that  the 
preacher  will  have  to  make  a  business  of  mis- 

9 


sions.  A  missionary  pulpit  is  a  safeguard 
against  heresy  in  the  ministry.  A  missionary 
pulpit  is  a  remedy  of  worldliness  among 
church  members.  A  missionary  pulpit  is  a 
cure  of  chronic  devilism  in  the  congregation. 
A  missionary  pulpit  is  a  converting  power  over 
the  prodigal  sons  of  God.  A  missionary  pul¬ 
pit  is  an  edifying  force  among  the  obedient 
sons  of  God.  A  missionary  pulpit  engenders 
the  finest  intelligence,  stimulates  the  noblest 
piety,  promotes  the  largest  serviceableness  in 
the  churches  of  Christ.  A  missionary  pulpit 
gives  breadth,  depth,  power,  unity  in  all  of 
one’s  preaching.  A  missionary  pulpit  is  the 
secret  of  an  endlessly  fresh  and  fruitful  minis¬ 
try  of  the -Word.  The  preacher  can  not  make 
too  much  of  the  business  of  missions  in  his 
pulpit.  That  is  his  duty,  first  and  foremost, 
among  the  men  of  God. 

Let  us  not  shut  our  eyes  to  obstacles  and  dif¬ 
ficulties  in  the  way.  Preachers  are  neither  in¬ 
fallible  nor  omnipotent.  Sometimes  they  have 
had  to  make  a  campaign  of  several  summers 
to  succeed  in  taking  the  first  collection  in  the 
congregation.  Ananias  nowadays  does  not 
bring  even  a  part  of  the  price  of  his  posses¬ 
sions,  and  lay  it  at  the  feet  of  our  secretarial 
apostles;  and,  when  a  missionary  agent  writes 
somewhat  unto  a  church  or  a  newspaper, 
Diotrephes,  who  still  loveth  to  have  the  pre¬ 
eminence,  receives  not  the  appeal,  but  forbids 
it  in  his  columns,  or  secures  a  writ  of  Caesar’s 

10 


law  to  silence  it  in  the  church.  With  covetous¬ 
ness  in  the  pew  and  officiousness  among  some 
of  the  pillars  and  sleepers  of  the  congregation, 
the  preacher  would  have  hard  enough  a  bat¬ 
tle;  but  his  ministry  becomes  a  hopeless  tangle 
among  the  crowded  and  crowding  appeals  for 
money  that  come  from  the  four  quarters  of  the 
earth. 

I  emphasize  the  duty  of  the  preacher  in  the 
business  of  missions.  Nay,  I  believe  that,  in 
the  collection  of  money  for  missions,  more  de¬ 
pends  upon  the  preacher  than  upon  any  one 
else.  When  each  minister  has  trained  his 
congregation  to  systematic,  liberal  giving,  the 
treasuries  of  our  missionary  societies  will  never 
go  begging.  But,  in  order  that  he  may  thus 
train  his  congregation,  and  that  all  of  our  mis¬ 
sionary  boards  may  be  duly  supplied  with 
means,  there  must  come  a  change  in  this 
whole  business  of  annual  collections.  There  are 
too  many  missionary  days,  too  many  missionary 
calls.  Add  the  numerous  other  appeals  for 
money,  especially  in  our  city  churches — the 
round  of  charities  besides  current  expenses — - 
and  the  matter  becomes  distracting,  “con¬ 
fusion  confounded,”  and  confounded  confu¬ 
sion  !  Let  the  change  come — fewer  missionary 
days,  fewer  missionary  calls,  but  larger  givin-g. 
Do  you  ask  how  the  change  be  made  ?  Let 
there  be  for  the  foreign  work  one  Lord’s  day  in 
the  year,  as  now;  for  the  general  home  work, 
one  Lord’s  day  in  the  year,  not  three ;  for  the 

11 


women’s  work,  one  Lord’s  day  in  the  year,  not 
two ;  for  state  work,  one  Lord’s  day  in  the 
year,  not  four.  Let  the  F.  C  M.  S.  continue 
its  Children’s  Day  in  the  Sunday-School.  Let 
the  C.  W.  B.  M.  still  train  the  Junior  Societies 
and  Bands.  Why  should  not  the  Y.  P.  S.  C. 
E  ,  with  its  bugle-call  to  ‘‘good  citizenship,” 
become  the  special  patron  of  the  great  mother 
society  of  all,  and  pray  and  give  for  America? 

Fewer  missionary  days,  fewer  missionary 
calls,  but  larger  giving !  Four  high  Lord’s 
days  in  the  year  for  the  fellowship  of  organized 
missions  !  The  change  must  come,  if  we  ex¬ 
pect  our  preachers  to  be  able  to  discharge  the 
supreme  obligation  resting  so  heavily  upon 
them.  It  takes  time  to  train  a  congregation 
to  systematic,  liberal  giving — not  a  big  spurt 
one  year,  and  a  little  ooze  the  next.  Espec¬ 
ially  does  it  require  preparation  to  make  each 
missionary  day  a  high  day  of  grace  and  giving. 
With  fewer  days  and  fewer  calls,  our  preach¬ 
ers  could  have  a  free  course  in  the  business 
of  missions.  They  could  mightily  pray  and 
preach  on  the  world-wide  Gospel,  and  wisely 
lay  their  plans  for  generous  offerings  by  the 
congregation.  I  believe  that  with  this  urgent 
change  the  majority  of  our  ministers  can  soon 
be  enlisted  in  the  fellowship  of  organized 
missions,  where  they  will  not  be,  and  can  not 
be,  in  the  present  crowd  and  clamor  of  ap¬ 
peals.  Give  the  preachers  the  right  oppor- 


tiinity  to  })rove  their  name,  their  faith,  their 
skill  in  the  business  of  missions. 

3.  We  may  hence  appreciate  the  place  and 
service  of  our  missionary  boards.  Why  do 
they  exist  ?  For  the  very  best  business  reasons. 
They  are  a  necessity  in  the  business  of  organ¬ 
ized  missions.  For  missions  on  a  world- wide 
scale  inevitably  become  a  business.  An  indi¬ 
vidual  mission,  sustained  by  one  disciple  or  by 
one  congregation,  has  its  own  right  place  in 
the  progress  of  the  Gospel.  Nay,  God  has 
blessed  the  workers  who  have  gone  out  into 
the  dark  lands,  moneyless  and  helpless,  and 
He  has  commanded  the  ravens  to  feed  them 
morning  and  evening.  But  in  Paul’s  day  and 
in  our  day,  when  missionary  work  grows,  ex¬ 
pands,  interwines  with  civilization,  becoming 
knotted  with  all  the  needs  and  interests  of 
human  society,  then  inevitably  the  missionaries 
must  rob  many  a  church,  taking  wages  of  it, 
that  they  may  minister  the  Gospel  in  a  large, 
wise,  settled  continuity  of  seed-time  and  har¬ 
vest.  The  churches  giving  money  by  tens  of 
thousands  of  dollars,  dozens  and  hundreds  of 
missionaries  banded  together  in  preaching  sal¬ 
vation,  the  missionary  board  the  mediating 
power  between  the  churches  at  home  and  the 
missionaries  in  the  field — this  is  the  lo^ic  of 
the  business  of  missions.  It  becomes  a  prac¬ 
tical  necessity. 

The  missionary  board  thus  is  neither  self- 
appointed  nor  autocratic.  It  is  a  representa- 

13 


tive  body.  The  ideal  of  its  personality  is  the 
Apostolic  ideal  that  pleased  the  people — “  men 
of  good  report,  full  of  the  Spirit  and  of  wis¬ 
dom.”  d'he  rich  history  of  this  executive  ad¬ 
ministration  throughout  Christendom  is  the 
best  proof  of  the  common  sense  of  the  organ¬ 
ization.  There  is  no  gathering  under  the  sun 
where  more  strikingly  do  grace  and  business 
meet  together,  where  more  chastely  do  prayer 
and  plan  kiss  each  other,  than  in  the  regular 
meeting  of  these  representative  men  around 
the  missionary  table.  There  is  no  body  cor¬ 
porate  named  among  men  that  has  a  finer 
credit  in  bank  and  market  than  the  great  his¬ 
toric  missionary  societies.  There  is  no  service 
of  man  that  better  incarnates  the  two  highest 
qualities  of  the  natural  man,  intelligence  and 
force,  and  better  incarnates  the  two  highest 
qualities  of  the  spiritual  man,  light  and  love  — 
these  in  a  vital  unitv  of  character — than  the 

j 

service  of  missionary  secretary. 

Well  may  this  type  of  men  be  looked  out 
and  appointed  over  this  business-  Not  a  sine¬ 
cure,  but  ‘‘this  business” — that  is  the  word 
to  describe  the  labor  of  the  executive  commit¬ 
tee  of  a  missionary  co-operation.  You  would 
have  to  see  the  committee  in  session,  to  ap¬ 
preciate  the  magnitude  of  the  work  and  the 
multiplicity  of  the  details.  It  is  enough  some¬ 
times  to  tax  the  understanding  of  Solomon  ; 
enough  sometimes  to  perplex  the  casuistry  of 
Socrates-  enough  sometimes  (I  speak  it  rever- 

14 


ently)  to  try  the  heart  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
These  men  have  grown  sober  indeed,  and  they 
have  lost  sleep,  because  of  that  which  pressed 
upon  them  daily,  anxiety  for  the  missionaries, 
ddiey  may  have  made  mistakes.  The  surprise 
rather  is  that  the  mistakes  are  so  few.  There 
have  been  times  when  these  counselors,  bur¬ 
dened  with  the  tearful  appeals,  or  the  hard 
strains,  or  perhaps  the  honest  differences  of  the 
workers  in  the  far-off  fields,  could  but  fall  with 
their 

“  weight  of  cares 

Upon  the  great  world’s  altar-stairs 

That  slope  through  darkness  up  to  God.” 

For  a  decision  must  be  arrived  at.  These 
brethren,  sitting  in  council,  are  not  there  to 
theorize  nor  speculate,  but  to  decide  what 
seems  wise  because  of  some  present  distress ; 
and  they  prayerfully  give  their  “judgment,”  as 
those  that  have  “obtained  mercy  of  the  Lord 
to  be  faithful.’ 

The  missionary  executive  committee  is, 
therefore,  a  rational  product  in  the  evolution 
of  missions.  Such  a  public  office  is  a  public 
trust,  the  trust  of  the  people  not  in  one  self- 
willed  leader,  however  industrious  and  aggres¬ 
sive,  but  in  a  balance  of  counselors.  We 
select  them  for  their  personal  reputation,  their 
spiritual  character,  their  discreet  understand¬ 
ing,  to  transact  the  business  of  missions.  Two 
points  of  business  we  must  steadily  keep  in 
mind :  first,  whenever  necessary,  to  enlarge 

15 


the  number  of  secretaries;  and,  second,  to 
allow  them  liberty  of  methods,  while  we  hold 
them  strictly  responsible  for  efficient  service. 
Let  us  dictate  to  them  no  niggardly  restric¬ 
tions.  Certainly  the  time  has  gone  by  for 
either  requiring,  or  for  boasting,  that  money 
by  the  thousands  can  be  receipted,  appro¬ 
priated,  disbursed  without  care  or  cost.  Such 
a  picayunish  notion  is  not  piety;  and,  plainly 
enough,  it  is  not  business.  We  ought  to  have 
fewer  missionary  days  and  fewer  missionary 
calls;  but  the  time  has  come,  I  verily  believe, 
for  us  to  have  not  fewer,  but  more,  missionary 
secretaries.  The  investment  in  noble,  faith¬ 
ful,  intelligent  men,  appointed  by  the  churches 
to  travel  in  the  business  of  this  grace,  to 
organize  and  oversee  missions,  is  a  paying 
investment.  When  they  do  their  work  right 
they  earn  their  salt,  and  deserve  the  honor  of 
their  brethren.  As  the  grace  of  God  abounds 
among  us  in  prayers  and  gifts,  the  very  next 
business  step  is  to  enlarge  the  number  of 
secretaries  at  least  on  our  national  boards,  that 
they  may  transact  daily  the  multiplying  duties 
of  the  council  and  the  field. 

The  history  of  the  Foreign  Christian  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  amply  merits  the  praise  and 
trust  of  its  constituents.  Its  record  of  business 
is  the  record  of  an  honorable  and  prayerful, 
practical  administration.  Notably  does  its 
simple  organization,  so  congruous  with  the 
Apostolic  polity  of  the  Church,  elicit  the 

JG 


blessings  and  energies  of  brotherly  fellowship. 
For,  brethren,  when  our  individualism  is  recti¬ 
fied  as  a  people  we  Disciples  know  one  an¬ 
other.  So  many  of  us  meet  one  another 
every  week,  as  it  were,  in  the  synagogues  of 
our  journalism  ;  and  better  still,  we  gladly 
hasten  every  year  to  Jerusalem,  to  enjoy  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles  in  our  national  convoca¬ 
tion.  We  know  one  another  by  name,  by 
face,  in  the  service  of  our  Lord ;  and  the 
more  intimate  the  acquaintance  grows,  closer, 
sweeter,  diviner  becomes  our  co-operation  in 
the  Gospel.  This  national  convention  is  hal¬ 
lowed  ground.  Statistics,  figures,  reports — 
the  business  of  missions— glow  with  the 
light  of  the  presence  of  God.  We  are 
learning,  in  the  intercession  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  better  how  to  pray,  we  are  learning 
better  how  to  plan,  for  world-wide  evangel¬ 
ism.  In  and  through  the  hours  ‘  of  these 
sessions,  the  voices  of  the  dead  and  the 
voices  of  the  living  mingle  in  the  sacred  ac¬ 
cents  of  memory  and  hope.  Our  pioneer 
fathers,  now  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses,  en¬ 
compass  our  ground  of  work,  while  still  old 
men  advise  and  exhort  young  men  of  the  third 
and  now  the  fourth  generation  of  our  reform¬ 
atory  movement.  It  means  so  much  for  onr 
good,  it  expresses  the  whole  genius  of  our  ex¬ 
istence,  that  the  first  president  of  this  Society, 
unquestionably  second  to  Alexander  Campbell 
in  labor  and  honor,  inherited  and  bequeathed 

17 


richly  the  sound  tradition  of  our  plea  for  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  and  the  progress  of  the 
Gospel.  It  is  a  blessing  of  Providence,  deeply 
touching  the  heart,  that  succeeding  Isaac 
Errett,  and  still  at  his  post  in  a  green  old  age, 
stands  another  coadjutor  of  Campbell,  a  ven¬ 
erable  representative  of  the  past,  untiring  and 
efficient  in  executive  labor — his  own  soul  white 
with  the  chastening  of  the  Lord  in  the  sacrifice 
of  the  daughter  who  magnified  Christ  first  by 
life,  then  by  death,  as  a  missionary  heroine. 
It  makes  this  year’s  gathering  particularly  no¬ 
table  that  he  who  has  served  so  long  and  so 
wisely  as  secretary,  comes  home  from  his  cir¬ 
cuit  of  the  globe,  to  fire  our  hearts  with  mis¬ 
sionary  zeal,  while  he  redoubles  his  prayers 
and  sacrificial  toils  for  universal  evangelism. 
Nor,  as  the  missionary  years  go  by — this  our 
2 1  St  anniversary — is  it  a  small  matter  of  gratu- 
lation  that  he  who  was  so  recently  called  as  a 
feliow  secretary,  “whose  praise  in  the  Gospel 
is  spread  through  all  the  churches,”  has  sig¬ 
nally  proved  his  force  and  skill,  so  that,  in  the 
lengthening  of  cords  and  the  strengthening  of 
stakes,  we  all  have  learned  better  than  ever 
the  lesson  of  the  business  of  missions.  Facing 
the  future,  to  evangelize  the  world,  as  the 
mighty  work  obligates  us  at  home,  proving  the 
good  of  this  stalwart  organization,  proving  the 
faith  and  diligence  of  the  pulpit,  above  all 
proving  the  devotion  and  wisdom  of  the  ex¬ 
ecutive  committee,  let  this  be  our  prayer: 

18 


“Now,  the  God  of  peace,  who  brought  again 
from  the  dead  the  great  shepherd  of  the  sheep 
with  the  blood  of  the  eternal  covenant,  even 
our  Lord  Jesus,  make  us  perfect  in  every  good 
thing  to  do  his  will,  working  in  us  that  which 
is  well-pleasing  in  his  sight,  through  Jesus 
Christ;  to  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever  and 
ever.  Amen.” 


19 


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